Unresolved Login Issue Prevented Florida 'Concealed Weapon' Background Checks For Over a Year (tampabay.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Tampa Bay Times For more than a year, the state of Florida failed to conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits, potentially allowing drug addicts or people with a mental illness to carry firearms in public... The employee in charge of the background checks could not log into the system, the investigator learned. The problem went unresolved until discovered by another worker in March 2017 -- meaning that for more than a year applications got approved without the required background check.

During that time, which coincided with the June 12, 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub that left 50 dead, the state saw an unprecedented spike in applications for concealed weapons permits. There were 134,000 requests for permits in the fiscal year ending in June 2015. The next 12 months broke a record, 245,000 applications, which was topped again in 2017 when the department received 275,000 applications... There are now 1.8 million concealed weapon permit holders in Florida.
The employee with the login issue, who has since been fired, "told the Times she had been working in the mailroom when she was given oversight of the database in 2013. 'I didn't understand why I was put in charge of it.'"

Comments

Re:What was the death toll?

[ShanghaiBill]

Just because the media said they didn't know of any doesn't mean there weren't hundreds.

Really? So you think there are hundreds of people willing to commit murder, but unwilling to carry a concealed gun without a permit?

Many states allow unrestricted conceal carry, with no license required. When they passed laws to allow this, some people predicted that shootings would soar since every road rage incident would turn into a homicide. Others predicted that crime would fall since more armed and law abiding people would be a deterrent. Here's what actually happened: It didn't make any difference.

Laws and Regulations are the tools

[oldgraybeard]

of politicians and government. Once they pass them they for the most part don't care about whether they work, are effective, harmful, who gets hurt or are properly implemented by the government bureaucrats. They got their bullet point/talking point for campaign ads/tools to attack their political opponents and they just move on, problem solved.

I also want to say again, about gun violence, what is it about our culture and society that creates individuals who think gun violence is a good way to get their fame on social media/solve their problems.
Maybe the real issue is not directly the gun (a tool) but the person and their state of mind along with our culture and society! Lets be open minded and at least ask the question.

Just my 2 cents ;)

Re:Laws and Regulations are the tools

[alvinrod]

I also want to say again, about gun violence, what is it about our culture and society that creates individuals who think gun violence is a good way to get their fame on social media/solve their problems.

I don't think there's anything particularly special about the United States in this regard. You find similar types of violence throughout the world. The Middle East is rife with it, but it takes on a much more religious bent. In European countries where access to guns is much more restricted, the weapon of choice now seems to be using vehicles on crowded streets. We even saw this in Canada from someone who carried out such an attack that had nothing to do with religion, lest anyone think this is just somehow a Muslim thing. There was even that Norwegian bloke from several years ago that massacred school children, so again I don't believe this is solely an American issue.

There's probably some illusion that this is a much larger problem then it actually is due to increased media coverage, and simply having more people than ever before on the planet. It's entirely possible for the total number of incidents to increase and for the per capita rate to decrease at the same time as a consequence of a growing population. Twenty-four hour news and the internet also mean that we're able to hear about any event that occurs, often as it's occurring. Previously, you might have found out about a major event a day or two later, typically with more information as reporters were able to piece together what had happened. Now you'll see a news story about something that's ongoing with little in the way of concrete information.

I believe that psychologists have stated that some of what the media was doing (showing pictures of the perpetrator, discussing why they did it, etc.) when we first started trending in this direction was likely to cause more incidents. If you give people attention for doing something, the kinds of people who crave attention are more likely to do those things. I don't know if it's completely fair to place the blame squarely there either. To some degree I suspect that up until some catalyst event, it had simply not occurred to most people to do something like that. Look again at the example of the use of vehicles to plow through crowds of people. Up until the last few years, this was almost entirely unheard of or if it did occur, more likely to be an accident or the result of an elderly person who perhaps shouldn't have been allowed to drive any longer. And soon, some new and unimaginable means of destruction will be unleashed on the world, and I'm not sure we'll understand it any better.

Re:Now can we audit the states use of the database

[PopeRatzo]

Non-licensed gun dealers at gun shows would be illegal. Being a non-licensed gun dealer anywhere is illegal. Are you referring to private sales?

Yes, I'm referring to gun dealers who go to shows and claim to be "private sellers".

If you've ever been to a gun show, you've seen them. As a lifelong gun owner,, I've actually purchased guns from these characters.

Re: None of that matters

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole "good enough for government work" thing pisses me off. There's a story that that used to mean a job well done. High enough quality for government work.

If that's no longer the case, it starts at the top: the voter. There are millions of people who work hard and want to do a good job. But we elect people who hate the idea of government and want it canceled. Not a big surprise when they don't care about the work being done.

We insist that government employees be low paid and have no perks, because "it's my money." And then when the best people avoid those jobs, we pretend it's a flaw in the concept of government service.

Government jobs should be highly sought after, good paying jobs, and then we should require then to be done with excellence and professionalism.

"Who's going to pay for that?"

All of us. But it'll be cheap. We won't need to employ 300 people to figure out how to plunge the toilet anymore.